At U.N. Emergency Meeting, U.S. Allies Criticize Military Action in Venezuela

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., defended his country’s ouster of Mr. Maduro, saying that there was “no war against Venezuela or its people.” He called Mr. Maduro a narcotics fugitive and not a head of state, and insisted the raid was “a law enforcement operation.”

The Security Council’s emergency session played out as Mr. Maduro and Ms. Flores pleaded not guilty to drug charges in a courtroom a few miles away. Mr. Maduro insisted that he was still Venezuela’s president and that he had been “kidnapped” in the U.S. military raid.

The arraignment followed a monthslong campaign by the Trump administration to drive Mr. Maduro from power. It could be well over a year before he and his wife face trial. Mr. Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, told the judge there were questions about the legality of his client’s “military abduction.”

Hours later, President Trump said in an interview with NBC that United States was not at war with Venezuela. When asked who was ultimately in charge there, he responded: “Me.”

Venezuela’s new leader is Delcy Rodríguez, Mr. Maduro’s vice president before the raid. During a swearing-in ceremony on Monday, she decried what she called the “illegitimate military aggression” of the United States and said that Mr. Maduro was still president. She also said Mr. Maduro and his wife were hostages, a day after she struck a conciliatory tone and offered to work with the United States.

Mr. Trump has backed Ms. Rodríguez over María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, saying over the weekend that Ms. Machado did not have enough domestic support to lead the country.

Ms. Machado said in a Fox News interview on Monday night that she was planning to return to Venezuela “as soon as possible” and that she believed the opposition would win more than 90 percent of the vote in free and fair elections. She said she had not spoken with Mr. Trump since Mr. Maduro’s capture.

Here’s what else to know:

• Congressional briefing: Top administration officials gave top lawmakers their first classified briefing about the U.S. military raid that captured Mr. Maduro, which was carried out without any consultation with Congress. Exiting the session, Republicans said they were satisfied and continued to defend the action, while Democrats accused the administration of obfuscating and offering few answers about what would come next. Read more ›

• Anger from Caracas: Mr. Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, who was named in the indictment against the Venezuelan leader and his wife, delivered a defiant speech at a meeting of the Venezuelan National Assembly. The younger Mr. Maduro, who has been a member of the assembly since 2021, said that his father and “second mother” had been “kidnapped,” adding that the world was facing a “dangerous regression” to imperialism. He pledged his support to Ms. Rodríguez.

• Indictment revised: The charges against Mr. Maduro do not mention a dubious claim in a previous U.S. indictment portraying him as the leader of the Cartel de los Soles. The term, according to a range of specialists in Latin American criminal and narcotics issues, does not refer to a real organization, but rather is a Venezuelan figure of speech meaning military officials corrupted by drug money. Read more ›

• Venezuelan oil: At least 16 oil tankers hit by U.S. sanctions appeared to have tried to evade a major American naval blockade on Venezuela’s energy exports over the last two days, in part by disguising their true locations. Mr. Trump has made clear his desire to open up Venezuela’s vast state-controlled oil reserves to American oil companies, but U.S. intervention could prove complicated and expensive.